Sam Stone

Tue 3 January 2023 22:13, UK

Aston Villa continued their superb form under Unai Emery with a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in North London on Sunday 1 January.

Villa’s form under the Spaniard has allayed any fears of relegation and at the moment the Villans certainly have their eyes set on a top-half finish.

It was a brilliant away-day performance, with Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara dominating Spurs’ midfield throughout the fixture. The midfield duo are known for their defensive ability, with the pair essential in providing a shield in front of the back four.

However, against Spurs, Luiz was an attacking threat for Emery’s side and managed to score the vital second goal to take the game away from their hosts.

The 24-year-old is certainly not afraid to have a shot from distance and according to Wyscout, the Brazilian managed three shots on target out of his five total efforts. Villa’s opener came from Luiz taking initiative and firing a shot at Hugo Lloris in the Spurs net.

However, Luiz was also not afraid the break the lines and make progressive runs to get into goalscoring positions for the Villans. His goal came from him leaving his midfield position and running beyond Spurs’ defence. A big part of the Brazilian being able to drive forward is potentially down to the system Emery is implementing at the moment.

For his goal, John McGinn drops into the deeper position which allows the Brazilian to make the run in behind – a movement which is extremely hard for the defenders to mark.

This has become somewhat of a trademark of Villa under the Spaniard, with Jacob Ramsey (when fit) and McGinn both operating in more advanced roles, but also dropping back when required.

Furthermore, the Brazilian also looked to make late runs to the edge of the box. A large part of him being given the freedom to push forward is due to Boubacar Kamara’s defensive play for Emery’s side. As per Wyscout, Kamara has managed a 65 per cent duel success rate during the win at Spurs and also won 78 per cent of his defensive duels.

He’s clearly extremely comfortable defensively and is able to break play up effectively. His defensive play has potentially allowed Luiz to play a more advanced role and link up with the likes of McGinn, Philippe Coutinho and Emi Buendia in more advanced positions.

It would not be a surprise to see Emery’s side score more goals from midfield, particularly when Ramsey returns to the side after his injury layoff. Opposition sides will naturally focus on forward players when it comes to Villa’s main goal threats, but at the moment Aston Villa are proving to be deadly from all over the pitch.

In other Aston Villa news, academy loanee Caleb Chukwuemeka struggles to find his goal-scoring boots at Crawley Town in League 2.